A Kobo Touch Review

The new Kobo e-Reader Touch Edition promised to be a better and lighter device for a faster, and smoother e-reading experience and it doesn’t disappoint. Here’s some insight into this new device:

The Kobo e-reader has a 6 inch Pearl E-Ink display. Measuring just about 4.5 X 6.5 inches, it can easily be carried around in the pocket, making it a very handy device, especially for people like me who like to take their books wherever they go. By virtue of a total absence of physical buttons, this e-reader has a full touchscreen which is responsible for its compactness. The quilted back panel of the Kobo makes it easier to grip, and it is super easy to can hold it in just one hand due to its sheer lightness (just 6.5 ounces).

Turning the pages by touch is remarkably convenient. There are actually two buttons on the device: a home button on the front and a power button at the top.

There is a micro USB slot on the bottom and a microSD card slot on the side. The WiFi is very reliable and it is such a convenient way to sync a e-reader to other devices or access the Kobo store to purchase books and magazines.

The Kobo can sync to a whole lot of other devices with a compatible app. There are Kobo apps to link it with PCs, Macs, BlackBerrys and even Android, making it east to use with many different devices.

Reading on the Kobo Touch Edition is a breeze. The Touch knows its job; it is pleasantly devoted to its primary aim as an e-reader and doesn’t try to be anything else. All its features are focused on making reading easier and more satisfying, including its Pearl E-ink display which inherently delivers sharp contrasts even in bright sunlight and crisp text and clarity almost exactly like that of a real-life newspaper. Another advantage of this technology is that it consumes very little battery. Per the specs the battery lasts a month and I don’t disagree.

The Touch Edition has 2 GB storage capacity and is expandable up to 32GB by a microSD card. This translates in to about 30,000 books which is more than I can even imagine having in my collection.

The 800MHz Freescale i.MX508 processor and Neonode zForce infrared technology that powers the Nook is also present in the Kobo, making for a super fast and incredibly smooth reading experience.

This new edition of Kobo does offer a pretty sleek and simple user interface that is easy to navigate. The homepage is the core of the device, and it’s stripped down to only the most necessary functionality. At the center of the page are images of the most recent purchases, and along the top are buttons for the book library, the Kobo store, and the device’s Reading Life competitive reading app. The bottom pane has icons for settings, help, and an icon to sync the reader over WiFi.

The reader also offers two styles and about 17 formats and font sizes. There’s an icon for an array of options, including returning to the table of contents, adding bookmarks (although you cannot create multiple bookmarks within a book; only the last page read is bookmarked.), marking the text and highlighting a selection. It’s easy to use the menu to look up word meanings or translate them.

All these features really simplified and improved my reading experience. As promised, the Kobo has great ergonomics that makes reading comfortable.

The Kobo bookstore offers about 2 million titles, along with 15 preloaded book previews and a number of categories, including New York Times Bestsellers, Oprah Book Club picks, etc.

I have really enjoyed getting to know my new Kobo Touch. It is a great e-reader, with its portability, excellent battery life, a speedy processor and super clear display.